Italian film pioneer Luca Comerio (1876–1940) spent the early decades of the 20th century traveling the globe as a cinereporter, from the North Pole to the equator, becoming increasingly fascinated by colonialism and fascism. He captured images of mounted soldiers, missionary schools in Africa, hunters shooting polar bears, zebras, and lions, as well as Italian Alpine troops in the trenches of the First World War.

In 1982, Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi discovered that Comerio’s abandoned lab in Milan was about to be dismantled. His films lay decaying in the basement, and were soon to be incinerated. Gianikian and Ricci Lucchi edited the found footage to make their own work, having first rephotographed, printed, and hand-coloured the images using traditional film techniques.

By slowing the footage down, they unravel the imperialist and colonial ideology inscribed on—and between—every image. Using the old to create something new, they reveal hidden meanings from the past.